


Serendipity

by Browncoat03K64



Series: Mersenne Twister [1]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Will Graham, Juvenile Court AU, No Romance, No Sex, Platonic (future) murder buddies, Young Will Graham, what better place for a serial killer than as a court psychologist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29337942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browncoat03K64/pseuds/Browncoat03K64
Summary: Hannibal is filling in for Alanna as a juvenile court psychologist for the day, and patient number one on the list is one Will Graham.*Update 3/10/21: I got another one-shot from this verse stuck in my head, so I'll be expending this into a series. The next fic will probably be up within the month.
Relationships: Will Graham & Hannibal Lecter
Series: Mersenne Twister [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2204232
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> Hello folks! I love the genderfluid!Will fics that I've read, which may just be me projecting too much on Will (just kidding, he's definitely not cis and you cannot tell me otherwise), but anyways, this scene just popped into my head and I had to write it. There may be a second chapter at some point in the future, but for now I'm gonna call this a oneshot about their meeting.

Hannibal Lecter had little to no professional interest in adolescents. Children were innocents, there was no reason to pull their strings, no dark hidden secrets to exploit. So, when Alana Bloom asked him to stand in for her as a juvenile court psychiatrist volunteer for the day, he was less than pleased (but no less gracious) in his acceptance.

He was right to be apprehensive. If superior court was a farm for the pigs of the type that often graced his table, juvenile court was a circus of animals not fit to eat and too pathetic to observe. He consulted the stack of files in the office inbox, picking the one for his next appointment.

Will Graham. As he sifted through the papers, the boy quickly began to pique his interest. No full psych yet, the powers that be were sending him in for an initial assessment. Hannibal grimaced with disgust at the state of the paperwork. Will had apparently been in before a number of times, in the past for truancy, and this time for a runaway charge and property damage.

The probation officer who had referred the youth was one Frederick Chilton according to the signature on the file. Alana had complained to Hannibal about Chilton before - apparently he was one of those probation officers who fancied himself an amateur psychiatrist and saw his charges as subjects for his little experiments. Judging from what he had heard of Chilton, Hannibal found it unlikely that Will Graham had never been referred for a psych eval before. Flipping through the file, though, Hannibal found just a jumbled array of attendance records, intake forms, and various statements of charges. Juvenile court deserved to be razed to the ground for their abysmal record keeping alone.

As Hannibal finished reading through what little information he had been provided about his next “patient”, there was a knock at the door. That would be Will, then.

Hannibal leaned himself back in Alana’s (exceptionally substandard) swivel chair. “Come in.”

Hannibal didn’t know what he had been expecting based on the loose profile the file built. A mousy child, maybe. Poor, neglected, vindictive, and prone to lashing out. Altogether unexceptional and unremarkable.

Will Graham was not unexceptional or unremarkable.

A sparkly pink crop-top swayed into view first, on top of a long, black pair of pants that looked painted on. Hair strongly dyed a bold shade of fuchsia, fingers that tapered into long, dark sparkling nails. Will did not creep or slink into the room, he (they? she?) _sauntered_.

Flinging himself(?) bodily into the armchair across from the desk, Will swung his(?) legs up over the sofa arm, draping himself(?) lazily across the faded upholstery like a young god boredly prepared to entertain the offerings of mortals.

Hannibal allowed himself a brief moment of surprise before immediately slamming his person suit impeccably into place. Rising, he walked around the desk and extended his hand to the teen.

“Hello, Will. I am Dr. Hannibal Lecter, I use he/him pronouns.”

Will laughed, eyes crinkling at the corners as his(?) frame shook with mirth.

“Stumped about my gender, doc? Do you bring out the pronouns for everyone, or just the ones you can’t clock on sight?”

Hannibal kept his facial expression pleasant, but his voice held a hint of warning as he replied, "I am simply offering you a standard greeting, you need feel no compulsion to reciprocate my disclosure. However, I do not appreciate discourtesy."

Will settled back in the seat, grinning and kicking out that pair of long, fishnet-clad legs. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be, doc, and I don't think you would be either. But, so far anyone beats Chilton, so I'll throw you a bone. You know I'm Will Graham, and today I'm the best-dressed boy in the building. Tomorrow, though, who knows. Next time, you'll have to figure it out on your own," he finished with a smirk.

Ah. Genderfluid, then. Hannibal nodded and continued his introduction. “I am filling in for Dr. Bloom for your initial meeting today. Your file doesn't include very much, but I would rather hear about you from yourself. And," he added, outstretching his hand with a sly smile, "nothing you discuss here need make it back to Officer Chilton. I am a firm believer in doctor-patient privilege."

Will looked up at Hannibal, then down at the hand. Seeming to consider for a moment, Will cautiously reached out a hand to shake.

Hannibal felt his smile widen into a shark grin. "Excellent. Now, Will, I have no interest in trying to dissect your mind on paper for a judge to see, least of all Judge Crawford who can be a little… narrow-minded, at times. However, for us to be of any assistance to one another, I will have to hear an explanation from you of what you did, and more importantly," Hannibal sent a pointed look at his young charge, "why you were caught."

Will scowled, glowering stubbornly at Hannibal from his perch on the armchair. "What's there to explain? That bitch Lounds wouldn't mind her own business, so I decided to give her more of her own to worry about and keyed her car and shredded her tires."

"And poured sugar in the gas tank, if this file is correct," Hannibal added mildly.

"Yeah, well, I needed to make sure it wasn't _too easy_ to fix. It's not like they can make me pay restitution from the foster home, so they'll likely just make me fix the engine myself. And if I do that, well," he shrugged, "I know my way around an engine and I can leave some… surprises for later."

“Hmm,” Hannibal nodded, scribbling notes in his small leather-bound journal. “A bit unsubtle, don’t you think? With a turnaround that quick, it seems Ms. Lounds will have an immediate suspect in you as the last person to work on her car.”

Will squinted in suspicion. “And? I’m still a kid, hence the ‘juvenile’ jurisdiction. They’ll never be able to prove criminal negligence - even if they do manage to prove it wasn’t just her piece of scrap finally kicking the bucket, they’ll just assume I’m too big for my britches and can’t fix cars as well as my old man.”

“Your father?” Hannibal probed. “Your files indicated that there was no next of kin for you, hence your status as a ward of the state.”

Hannibal would be hard pressed to recall a more disdainful sneer than the one that Will affected at the mention of his father. “Ah, yes, good old dad. After dealing with my… unsettling nature for most of my life, apparently seeing his son in heels and a dress was enough to push him over the edge. He kicked me out of the house and refused to take me back. The court tried to foist me off on him a few times, especially since none of the group home leaders I’ve been placed with have been particularly fond of me or my… talents, but eventually they ruled him an unfit parent and agreed to having me emancipated.”

“Ah,” Hannibal sighed in understanding, “and you’re in a group home because of the truancy charges.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Yes, apparently not going to school is enough of an excuse for the state to take away my freedom of movement and restrict my access to my personal funds. It wasn’t even like I was turning tricks or shooting up in an alley somewhere, I was auditing college classes because high school is a hellhole designed to browbeat and brainwash children into being gullible little lemmings.”

While most people would probably have seen this as a bit jaded and cynical for a child, Hannibal thought that Will’s troubled background had given him some valuable insight into the way the world really worked. Subtlety, though, still seemed to escape the adolescent. Hannibal could empathize with the desire to break from conventional education pathways, though. As someone who hadn’t attended a standard high school either, he certainly wasn’t one to hold truancy laws in high regard.

“You mentioned your ‘unsettling nature’ as something separate from your gender expression, and following that made an allusion to ‘talents’ that you feel go unappreciated. What were you describing in that instance?”

“Want to see?”

Hannibal took in Will’s confident posture and calm façade. The youth wasn’t (or at least didn’t believe himself to be) bluffing about having something interesting to share, but he was...scared? of Hannibal’s reaction after his revelation. Well, this was certainly not something Hannibal would miss the opportunity to see. “Of course.”

“I’ve heard about you, Dr. Lecter. Cops talk, and I’m certainly around them more than I would like. You consult on police cases, and I’d bet you have some of your files with you because you were counting on being bored today. Show me one of the files, just the crime scene photos. Preferably from a murder.” Will extended a hand expectantly.

Hannibal retrieved his bag, selecting a file carefully from the collection there. Hannibal had already unraveled this one, but he knew none of the details had leaked to the press yet. He extracted the photos from the file, handing them to Will.

Will laid the photos out on the ground in front of his armchair, leaning forward, elbows to knees, to perch his chin on clasped hands. Scanning the photos, his posture slowly straightened until his hands fell to his sides. Closing his eyes, he began to speak.

“I’m searching for a new piece to my puzzle, I need someone young, someone… who holds their color well, whose skin is not yet wrinkled or tarnished. I’m furious, one of my pieces doesn’t fit, it’s been torn out of my masterpiece. I don’t have time to shoot this one, he runs, something went wrong in my plans and he falls to his death rather than from the method of my choosing. He is replaceable, though. They all are. I’m creating a tapestry of bodies, a color palette of people sewn together alive.”

Will’s eyes fly open, and the boy looks slightly disoriented, glancing around the room before his gaze finally lands and rests on Hannibal. Grimacing as he shook off the remnants of the gruesome murder he had just narrated, Will looked to Hannibal for approval. “Well? How’d I do?”

“Spectacularly,” Hannibal breathed. “How could anyone let such a gift, such _pure empathy_ , go unappreciated?”

Will smiled bitterly. “Quite easily. I guess pure empathy is a good term for it, I can feel what the killer feels when I let the pendulum swing like that. I have a bunch of serial killers living in my head now, which certainly doesn’t contribute much to my interpersonal relationships beyond convincing people I’m going to kill them in their sleep.”

Hannibal leaned back in his chair. It took all his years of practice to maintain his composure and not show how intrigued he was by this boy. Will Graham would grow to be an interesting man. With the right mentorship, though, he could be… magnificent.

He made his choice. “Will,” he began smoothly, “would you like to make a deal?”

**Author's Note:**

> Anyways, that's it for now. Hannibal definitely ends up getting Will out of court trouble and mentors him in how to be a serial killer in the future. Maybe I'll end up writing it one day if I get inspired, but I hope you liked this for now!


End file.
